


A fic where Liara and Femshep get a happy ending

by Manzi



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/F, Happy, Romance, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-17
Updated: 2015-08-17
Packaged: 2018-04-15 05:25:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4594530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Manzi/pseuds/Manzi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Disappointed by the Mass Effect 3 ending, a terrible author aims to fix it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A fic where Liara and Femshep get a happy ending

“I think I found her—get the stretcher, she’s hurt badly!” A voice, somewhere, called out with a character that only comes after hours of shouting. Commander Shepard clung to that voice, and through it more sounds seemed to pry themselves free from restraints and enter her head, making her suddenly aware of herself, and the roaring of fires, crumbling of concrete and the cacophony of voices both near and far. She had trouble opening her eyes, even giving the command to her body to move gave little response but the abstract idea of pain; she wasn’t sure if it was her body that hurt or if it came from somewhere far away. “Get this debris off her, quick! I think she’s waking up.” A great deal of pressure she previously didn’t register was lifted, on cue she filled her lungs with soot-filled air and coughed. It hurt like her chest was crushed and splintered, shredding her insides. “Commander, stay still.” The voice urged her, she saw the amorphous outline to whom it belonged. “I need to apply this medigel, but it’s gonna hurt. I need you to stay absolutely still.”

A comforting yellow and the whirr of an omni-tool brought about a terrible pain, like her nerves were fighting the rearrangement of her bones and tissue. She felt herself held down, and unable to even cry out. “Doctor, over here! We have Shepard!” The voice rang through the rubble, and a vague blue form arrived next to her. “Goddess, that’s the best news so far.” An omni-tool started up again, but only emitted a series of beeps as it tracked the length of her battered body. “Head trauma, multiple fractures, lacerations, burns, shrapnel damage. What isn’t wrong with you?” A cool hand fell of her forehead and came away wet with blood. Doctor, Shepard thought, Asari doctor. Liara. She needed to move, but it came with tremulous pain and a cascade of worrying noises from the Asari’s omni-tool. “Stay still, Commander!” Both of them demanded of her with desperation, an urgent plea. “Administering sedatives.” Her body felt heavy and not her own, muffled sounds of boots came nearer. “Come on, get her to the field hospital.” People around her stirred as she floated onto the canvas stretcher, her skin buzzing from the biotic field’s caress.

Next she was surrounded inside a shuttle, doctors and medics spoke in restrained whispers as they worked, assessing what had happened with increasing uncertainty. “She shouldn’t even be alive.”  
“Watch it, fly slower!”  
“I don’t care how much it takes, we’re not letting her go like this. She saved our lives, and I’m not about to give up on her.” Soon each mention of sedative and medigel clouded her consciousness further, each turbulent bump was followed by the doctors’ curses, but Shepard felt at peace. Sleep was her escape from the confusion.

Shepard woke up with focused vision, and equally focused pain. Her arms and legs were stiffly wrapped, and she couldn’t move her head without a creak in her nerves. Doctors of all races stood around her and watched, each with awe, some in tears. “Shepard’s alive.” Someone shook, “She’s awake.” Behind the wall of doctors lining her bed, she saw the gray walls of the bombed building that served as the field hospital. The patients in their beds who were awake were looking her way with the same wonder the doctors did, and the far walls, even the doorways, were filled with soldiers, civilians and medical personnel; all with their eyes on her. A salarian doctor by her side held his omni-tool in front of her eyes, and everyone seemed to become sucked in by the tension. “Commander Shepard? I’m Doctor Tezon, head physician. If you can understand me, I’d like you to look straight ahead and think yes or no, my omni-tool will respond to your neural activity.” Shepard thought yes, and a green light flashed briefly and the crowd grew closer while the tension dissipated. “Excellent, awareness seems to be confirmed. Commander, I’m happy to say your condition has stabilized over the past few days. Thanks to you we have a steady supply of medicine and medigel, and we have called experts from all over the galaxy to assist us. However, you still require surgery for several fractures, and we need to remove the shrapnel inside your stomach. Fortunately, mass effect fields has it separated from your organs, but this is not a sterile environment and thus you need to be moved to Huerta Memorial as soon as possible. We have called for a patient transport ship and it should be here in a approximately two days. Do you understand?” Yes. “Excellent! Do you know where you are?” No. Her mind was fragmented, she remembered her rescue, but nothing that led to it. She began to worry about lasting damage, and whether she would live her life impaired. “Heart rate spiking. Commander, short term memory loss is common in humans with these extensive injuries. Our scans picked up no neurological issues. Now, do you remember what happened?” No. A sedative calmed her, made her float.

“Well, then!” The salarian rubbed his hands together with a grin, “I will have someone familiar explain, might make it better, more sentimental. Admiral.” He pointed to the foot of the bed. A decorated man stood in front on her, hands clasped behind him and chest jutting proudly. She recognized Hackett from the vidcoms on the Normandy, had she ever seen him in person?  
“Commander, good to see you’re alive.” His face lowered, she saw moisture bead in his eyes. “You’re a god damned hero, a legend. The entire galaxy owes you their lives. You made the Reapers cooperate somehow, share their knowledge, we’re still piecing the intel together but it suggests a critical change in all organic and synthetic life. We have been… improved.” Shepard watched Hackett, and tried to understand. In the light of the omni-tools and the fires, the saw the circuitry faintly embedded in the skin of every person beside her, their eyes green with the massive amounts of information passing through. “The war is over, Commander. You activated the Crucible and saved us all. With the Reapers’ help, rebuilding is progressing rapidly on worlds we have managed to contact. Shepard, we will give you the best care in the galaxy until you’re on your feet again, and I guarantee you it will happen.” He put a hand on her foot, shielded by a thick cast. “We lost contact with the Normandy shortly after the Crucible activated, but they recently sent a signal from a system in the Far Rim, they should be back to the Citadel in time for your recovery.” The doctors all backed away as he walked over to her side. She could see him clearly, his stern military facade gone and replaced by a deep respect and appreciation. “The doctors here will induce sleep in order to repair what they can, and you will wake up in Huerta. I will personally hail the Normandy and inform your crew. You did good, Shepard.” He saluted with decades of military tradition in his movements.

Hackett left, and the room descended upon her with congratulations and thanks, some were still in tears while others laughed. Shepard at least felt safe as her doctors worked her gently into sleep with incremental drugs and reassuring manners. “Leave everything to us, Shepard. Casualties were high, but injured astonishingly low. Big tragedy, but most resources allocated to you. Now sleep.” Shepard couldn’t resist the heaviness of her eyes, her body. Only one dream came to her, in the middle of the sobering pain that penetrated even her dreams her mind rebuilt, going over the moment she let go of Liara. If she was to be sick her whole life, then may the universe let then be together.

As Shepard opened her eyes, disoriented but warm and painless, she came to recognize where she had landed. The room Ashley had recovered in after their run-in with a Cerberus AI had been heavily fitted with machines of all kinds, strapped and plugged to her head, hands and arms, signaling her return to consciousness and her body’s recovery. Like Hackett had said, outside on the Presidium a Reaper destroyer shuffled about massive blocks of rubble, making way for repair crews along the riverbanks and walls that stretched on far below. Shepard found she could move her head, so she gazed out her window, more moved by the signs of peace than the view. She tested her body. It was immovably heavy, the inch she managed to lift her arm swayed, buckled and fell back into the mattress. After so much fighting and death, Shepard didn’t seem to mind. For once, she wasn’t needed, there was no guilt in rest, and there was no chance of saving a galaxy or uniting races in her state. Just as she sunk her head back into her pillow a team of doctors led by an Asari entered her room and went to her bedside. “Commander Shepard, it’s so good to see you awake. Do you know where you are?”  
“Huerta Memorial Hospital. I’ve been in this room before.” She croaked, her voice unsteady and raw. “How long has it been?”  
“You arrived here about one week ago. You’ve gone through multiple surgeries to repair your bone structure and a lot of internal injury. You’re fine, you just need plenty of rest and probably physical therapy to regain lost muscle tissue.” She gestures for the other doctors, two humans, to go over her values.  
“I feel fine, just tired. What about the Normandy? Is it here yet? Where’s my crew?” Shepard’s room had been empty when she woke up. She had to know their fate.  
“I have word that the Normandy docked here three days ago. There have been people in and out since then, though you probably want to know about Dr. T’Soni?” The doctor gave her a knowing smile when Shepard’s eyes widened. Liara had seen her, and in such a sorry state. She regretted her recovery, now a tedious process she impatiently had to endure.  
“Liara? She’s been here?”  
“She only left your side last night. At one point she looked sicker than you and we had to ask her to leave so she could get some sleep herself.” Shepard shut her eyes to combat the stinging her words caused. Again she had been near death, and again Liara had to worry and mourn.  
“Please, call Liara and the others. I want to see them.”  
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Shepard. You’re still weak from surgery and—”  
“Just call them. Please, now.” Shepard looked at the Asari doctor, her green eyes flashed for an instant, a distant look across her face until she bloomed a smile.  
“I’ve sent out the call, and Liara already has special access past the visiting hours.” She leaned in and cupped Shepard’s cheek, and Shepard realized that it was swollen. “Thank you, Commander, for everything. My partner and my daughters thank you, the entire staff thanks you.”

Barely a few minutes passed before Shepard heard the familiar, heavy steps of Krogan outside her door. As it opened, Wrex burst in, followed by Grunt. “Shepard!” They shouted, taking her limp hand and shaking it. “You look like you just came out the wrong end of a thresher maw, but you made it.” Wrex sounded convinced.  
“Of course she made it, you fossil. Nothing can defeat my battle-master.” Grunt pounded his fist.  
“Wrex. Grunt. Good to see you made it, too.” She said, trying to match their intensity but sounding exhausted.  
“Reapers were no match, especially not for you. Just look at them.” Grunt pointed to the window and laughed, “like giant kittens!”  
“We both got here as fast as we could, there must be Krogan blood in you to cheat death twice.” Wrex looked her over, picking up her hand and letting her arm dangle.  
“Weaker than a newborn. I suppose you need your rest.”  
“I need you here, and I need everyone else. Where’s Liara?” Shepard said as defiantly as she could.  
“Suit yourself,” Wrex said, “Liara went to your apartment last I heard, and the rest of the crew are on their way.”

The door hissed and slid open for the rest of the Normandy. Jack entered, followed by Garrus, Miranda and Jacob, then EDI with Joker close behind. Tali snuck in quietly and Kasumi appeared in the gathering behind James and Ashley. They filled the room with voices and concerns, pushing aside machines and blocking the entrance. “I see not even the Reapers can take you down.” Garrus started.  
“You’re a tough son of a bitch.” Jack added  
“Damn right she is.” Grunt laughed in approval.  
“Commander, the doctors here informed us of your condition. Are you sure you want us here?” Miranda came forward and took Shepard’s hand. Her fingers twitched in response, the only one she could give.  
“I had to see your were all alright, with my own eyes.” Shepard scanned the room of friendly faces and knew how lucky she was, seeing them again, almost all of them. She wanted to know just how she had impacted the galaxy and their lives, and Wrex took his place, telling her about the united Krogan people, his future children. Every race, every army, took heavy casualties during the war, and some planets were still unreachable or even desolate of life. But everywhere, people sang Shepard’s praises, including in that hospital room.  
“The Alliance has offered you a position as Admiral, Shepard. You’re the face of humanity, of the entire galaxy, and they want to reward that.” Ashley had her hand on Shepard’s shoulder. But Shepard only nodded and said, “I already made a promise. I’m done saving the world, and I’m done fighting. I want to live the rest of my life in peace.”  
“Are you sure?” Her crew looked at her with new eyes, as friends rather than allies. “It’s a great position.”  
“I’ve been sure for a long time now, I’m sure there will be someone to take my place now that there is no threat to fight. No Reapers, no Collectors, no Cerberus; I’m done.” Shepard said with finality.  
“I know a certain someone who will be pleased with that bit of news.” Garrus said and put his finger to his ear, speaking to someone, “She’s awake, can you make it down here? Alright, we’ll let her be.”  
“Shepard, don’t go soft on us. We’ll be back.” Jack challenged as the room began to empty at Garrus’ instructions.  
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep myself busy. You’ll all know where I end up going, and you’re always welcome.” She wanted to wave, but she didn’t have the strength to. “I couldn’t have done any of it without you.”

Her doctors came in after the room was clear and tried to urge Shepard to sleep, but she would hear none of it, not until Liara had come. She held her head up as far as her muscles would allow and stared out the window at the technological monstrosity sweeping the parks and streets clean. The last time she had seen one it had nearly killed her, but now her knowledge and connection to the Reapers was so complete and comprehensive, she knew with absolute certainty it would not attack. Shepard wondered if everyone felt the same. Perhaps they did, and shared what she knew, like a vast network of information. She studied the ridges between its armor and the green that was present on her as well. What had changed?

Liara came in looking pale and nonplussed, her unfocused eyes squarely on Shepard as she knelt over her body, cradling her head, touching her to make sense of the reality before her. “I… I prayed to the Goddess to not take you from me, yet I have trouble believing you are here with me.” She forced a whisper.  
“Death can’t take me, Liara. Now more than ever.”  
“I thought I would never see you again.”  
“I couldn’t die after letting you go through that once already. How are you holding up?” She cursed herself and her weakness, not being able to Liara even as tears tipped her lashes.  
“I’m relieved. I’m tired and I’m relieved, but you’re back and right now that is all I wanted.” Liara brought her lips to Shepard, parched and dry but hers. She let herself be at Liara’s mercy.  
“Tell me about the Normandy. What happened when the Crucible fired? I must’ve dropped my memory somewhere.” Shepard joked, but there was no humor in either of their faces.  
“We managed to escape its blast and crashed on a planet in the Far Rim. We only just got the Normandy back and running when we realized that we had all changed, somehow. You can see it in my eyes, and I can see it in yours.” Just like the rest, Liara’s eyes had turned green, with a synthetic light behind them.  
“I’m not dead, and you’re not dead. That must mean I did something right.”  
“Shepard, you are the reason anyone’s still alive.” Liara held onto Shepard’s unresponsive hand.  
“I must be selfish saying this, but I always thought about us and about the promise I made you.”  
“If anyone deserves to be selfish it’s you. I’d like to hear that promise again.” Liara leaned close, her breath on Shepard’s cheek making her shiver.

“Liara, I’m retiring. I said I wanted to spend my life with you and I mean it. Remember, a nice house somewhere, little blue children?” Shepard whispered and Liara wiped tears that fell on her face.  
“I held onto those words, Shepard. I believed it so much, yet when you say them—I’m sorry, I’m crying. I love you, Shepard.” She strained with sobs, small and quiet.  
“I love you, Liara. Let’s live in peace, together.” Shepard craned her neck and kissed Liara, finding out how starved for contact she had become.  
“Yes, Shepard. I would love that.” Liara came to lie against Shepard’s side, carefully nestled against her on the hospital bed. “We can hire medical staff, and we can move into the apartment. You can recover there and I’ll help you.”  
“Let me touch your face, Liara. I—I can’t move my arm far enough by myself.” Shepard said embarrassedly, but Liara just smiled and took Shepard’s hand and put in on her cheek, pressing on it. “Do whatever you can to make it happen. We have a lot of time to catch up and I intend to work hard until I can do this on my own.” Shepard swept Liara with loving eyes, and they kissed.

In the days that followed, Shepard watched a broken Presidium transform into a bustle of beauty and activity. The waters turned to crystal blue and the vast stretch of park in between became vibrant as a result. Injured soldiers were transferred out of Huerta and replaced by regular broken bones, diseases and accidents. Thing were returning to normal, in fact surpassing what it had once been. The Reapers shared the knowledge of all civilizations that came before them, and so technology and understanding rapidly accelerated, the economy boomed and even if her hospital bed Shepard saw massive overhauls. Her machines were replaced by alien technology that was said be measure her progress more accurately, stimulate muscle growth and strengthening and she even heard talks of restoring nerve connections to the paralyzed and medicine that cured the incurable. Shepard talked to several visitors each day, many civilians wanting to see her for themselves, shake her hand, get a picture or autograph and listen to her stories about the Normandy. Military personnel came to salute her, give their thanks, but most had left, considering the war was over and across the galaxy military services were simply not necessary anymore. Some stayed as guards, while others honored the tradition. Shepard admired them all, as she saw the fruits of her labor, the results of uniting all races under one goal.

Most of all, Shepard enjoyed her time with Liara. During her visits, they talked about memories of their adventures together as Shepard leaned on her while trying to walk. During the nights, as control returned to her arms, she would hold Liara close to restore lost time, and talk about the future. They began to meld their minds together, experiencing their own intricacies and love for the other in profound intimacy. “Embrace eternity.” Liara said, but had since stopped as Shepard became tuned to her, sinking into a shared consciousness.  
“Do you want to live on Thessia?” Shepard said, without words or actions.  
“You know my answer.” Liara smiled.  
“I want to hear you say it. I want your voice.” Shepard kissed her deeply, swirling with Liara inside nothing, their own space.  
“Yes, Shepard,” Liara’s mellifluously echoed, “Let’s live on Thessia, let’s live anywhere. Let’s travel to Earth and see the stars, let’s visit all the homeworlds of all the races in the galaxy, you and I.” Shepard felt Liara’s love, her sincerity, it touched the fundamental parts of her being, infusing her with love. When they broke the meld, Shepard could sense the disconnect from each other, the sensation of her world getting smaller, and what she had known so perfectly became an exciting unknown. Liara, who touched her lips to Shepard’s, shared everything she knew and felt at the point of their meld and yet when they parted she came away with so little, but so much to explore.

“Melding with you is so amazing, but you have to admit there is a mystery to not knowing everything.” Shepard traced her fingers gently through the ridges of Liara’s scalp, leaving her with just a tentative touch, Liara crooned for more.  
“You’re telling someone who has studied the Protheans all her life. But I agree, talking to you, being with you, is just as fulfilling as sharing myself with you. Yet I sense something that I could not shake, like an anxiety when you think about the war.” Shepard considered Liara’s words, being caressed by her hands, kissing the blue of her palm. “There is a tension, like you are still bracing for something. Shepard, you do know the war is over? The Reapers, Collectors—it’s all over.”  
“Of course I know it’s over.” Shepard said, yet she came to Liara’s neck and hid. It really was over, Shepard thought. So how come this overwhelming relief and sadness gripped her like she had just heard the words? It occurred to her, all at once, that she didn’t have to fight, as if retirement had had no meaning until that moment. How could she have missed it, yet let Liara clear a path to its true meaning with a simple question. She let herself cry in Liara’s arms, from the weight suddenly gone and the joy of a future she knew would be peaceful. Peace had always been Shepard’s ideal, but it had been diluted by war long ago, lost its meaning, but Liara reminded her, healed past battles. “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you cry, Shepard.” Liara said with a kiss to her forehead.  
“You see things about me even I can’t, Liara. Hopefully we won’t have much to cry about anymore.” Shepard steadied herself with a few paced breaths and looked into Liara’s eyes, establishing a deep connection of information and feelings. “Unless it’s of joy, then I’ll cry with you whenever.”  
“I enjoy having that effect on you,” Liara’s green eyes shimmered like her smile, full of life. “I know a Commander Shepard that nobody else knows.”  
“Please,” Shepard soaked in Liara in her entirety, light, purple freckles on clear blue. Artificial, blue light flooded in from the bedside window and soft shadows shifted as she moved, as she kissed. “Just Shepard.”

The day after, Shepard was discharged from Huerta Memorial. She walked through the exit on a cane, hand-in-hand with Liara as a skycar waited for them outside. Little evidence remained that there had been a war, that whole worlds had gone dark and billions of lives were lost. Shepard found it strange to get used to walking without the weight of weapons and armor pulling her down, and the admiring looks an accomplished soldier had to respond to. Even Silversun Strip had returned to its busy nightlife style. Signs leading to arcades and casinos flashed and beckoned, and races from all over the galaxy mingled and gambled, life resumed and nobody seemed to pay any attention as Shepard and Liara were escorted up Tiberius Towers where their apartment sat, at the very top.

“I hope you don’t mind, Shepard, I salvaged what I could from Illium and brought it here. Mostly Prothean artifacts that survived the invasion.” Liara said and squeezed Shepard’s hand.  
“Take whatever you find, it’s not like the place lacks space. I’m just glad to have you here.” They shared a kiss, and Shepard wobbled and was caught as they elevator made its way up.  
“Shepard, I didn’t know you were so… eager.” Liara closed the distance between them with a cunning grin, having saved Shepard from falling over her.  
“Our lives are just starting, I don’t intend to waste a second.” Shepard breathed against Liara’s neck. The elevator reached the final floor and stopped at a dimly lit, decorated hallway where orange light came in through the windows covering the outer wall. Shepard was suggestively led through her apartment, now occupied by encased artifacts, beacons and art. Liara stopped her at the stairs to the bedroom and said, “Leave the cane.” And with a biotic field around Shepard she carried her up the steps.  
“Have you been watching wedding vids, Liara?” Shepard remarked, locking arms around Liara’s neck.  
“Maybe I have, but I took your words to heart: “I don’t intend to waste a second.””

Liara dropped Shepard on the bed and crawled over her, dropping down to taste along her clavicle to her honeyed mouth. Shepard fell in love over and over, like splashes and ripples through her heart, and all Liara did was take control, slow and without precision. “Every time we have been together, it’s been on the Normandy. Always with no time or plan, just the two of us seeking comfort from the things we were up against.” Shepard’s bra joined the pile of her and Liara’s clothes at the foot on the bed. “I wonder how it will feel, what will become of us, when there’s no rush, no worry, with all the time in the world.” Liara said, and Shepard rolled on top, repeating her kisses to Liara’s sweet gasps.  
“How about we find out?” Liara crossed her legs behind Shepard as she kissed, slow and linger but she found herself unable to stall herself when Liara’s body reacted with undulating movements and soft noises of approval. “I really missed you, Liara.” She said as her kisses landed lower, onto Liara’s bared chest, “Not until now did I realize how much I want you.” Hands tugged at Shepard, pulling her back up rolling her on her back, and Liara’s lips were on her; everywhere she felt her lips, hot and wet, breathe life and warmth into her body.  
“Goddess, Shepard, I missed you too.” Shepard sounded pleasurably for her, moved to her kisses and trailing touches. Liara wanted this, Shepard knew even without words, her urgency came through her actions, and the difference between being wanted and being needed was never greater. She aligned her body with Shepard’s, pressing her thigh into her, squirming while looking into her eyes. “To think I can savor being this close to you.”

The green in Liara’s eyes, Shepard saw, was being replaced by a void of black. She drew in breath loudly as she sank, the bed around them fading as they entered a space all to themselves. In that space, pleasure was absolute, it needed no action, just the closeness of two beings intertwined as one. “This is how it should be.” Liara whispered, and Shepard accepted her vulnerability, the total revelation of everything she was and had ever been. She could tread along Liara’s memories, her exact sensations, mental and physical, and Liara knew. She opened herself as Shepard had done, and during their peak, when the friction between them blurred and it seemed like their bodies were fully united, they combined and Shepard fell deeper into an unknown. “I want our daughter to be like you: a strong leader who will never waver, and always follow what she knows in her heart to be right. A protector, full of love.” As they came together, Shepard felt the words like an instinct. Liara took those qualities, united them with her own heritage; she saw life begin, explode and cascade around them with overwhelming vibrancy. More powerful than any experience she had encountered, her world gained new context. Then, she opened her eyes, and Liara was smiling back at her.

“Liara…” Shepard mouthed, certain she had tears in her eyes, and kissed her with all the world’s love behind it.  
“Do you think we will be good parents, Shepard?” Liara wiped the moisture from Shepard’s cheek.  
“We will give her everything. We’ll work together to let her see the galaxy as we have.” Shepard thought she saw Liara glowing, her blue hue more vibrant than ever.  
“We will take her to see the ships come into the docks, see all the people and visit all the worlds we can reach.” Liara dreamed in Shepard’s arms.  
“We’ll explore all kinds of planets, go to digs, experience ancient cultures.” Shepard added to her dreams, and in one swift motion Liara sat astride her.  
“I love you, Shepard. But I’m not done with you tonight.” She leaned forward and teeth came to Shepard’s neck, she held onto Liara and any devious plan she had hatched. “There’s no mission to save you this time.”

**Author's Note:**

> Since it's set up for some dirty stuff, maybe there'll be something more explicit added later.


End file.
